Super coach Wayne Bennett slaps down wild Matt Lodge claim he was dudded by Rabbitohs: ‘we decided we would stick with what we’ve got’

Returning South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has rejected speculation journeyman prop Matt Lodge was a certainty to be at Redfern in 2025.

It comes after Lodge – who has played for five different NRL clubs in his colourful career – recently claimed the contract was a done deal.

‘I thought it was 99 per cent over the line, and I got told to tell my family,’ he said.

‘Then I just had a quick call saying, ‘It’s not happening’, and he [Bennett] hung up.’

But the super coach – who previously coached Lodge at the Broncos in 2018 – offered a different version of events.

‘Look, I never guaranteed that Matt would be here,’ he told News Corp. ‘Unless you sign the contract, the deal isn’t done.

Returning South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has rejected speculation journeyman prop Matt Lodge was a certainty to be at Redfern in 2025

It comes after Lodge – who has played for five different NRL clubs in his colourful career – recently claimed the contract was a done deal

‘Certainly, I was interested in him and at one stage we were close to approaching him with a deal or offering him a deal. But we never talked money or in person, it was all over the phone. We never got to that place.’

Bennett also pointed to salary cap pressures, and admitted contract talks stalled when a ‘couple of guys we were trying to move on, didn’t move.’

Earlier this month, Lodge inked a deal with the Sea Eagles as part of their extended playing squad.

Lodge will start the season in NSW Cup with a view to forcing his way into Anthony Seibold’s NRL squad.

‘I know I’ll get back to where I want to be and I’m backing my ability,’ the father of four said in an interview on the club’s website.

‘I had an opportunity elsewhere, which at the time I thought was the right thing for us [family] to do, but things change, and you adapt.

‘I’ll continue to work three days a week on a building site where I’ve been for the past six months….and I’ll also be preparing for my second pro fight in early March.

Lodge made his NRL debut in 2014 with the Wests Tigers – and later had a stint at the Warriors (pictured, in 2022)

‘We are really settled on [Sydney’s] northern beaches. Family time and lifestyle are very important to us.’

In 2015, Lodge forced himself into an Upper Westside apartment in Manhattan and assaulted a man, while his partner and young son hid in the bathroom fearing for their lives.

He told the man in front of his family – all of whom he didn’t know – ‘this is the night you will die’ before spending two weeks in a US prison for the attack.

Lodge was ordered to pay $1.6million to his victims and later stated he was ‘off his head’ on sleeping pills and alcohol at the time of the terrifying incident.